By the time Maggie Beth Levinger and Luke Regalbuto found the blue cottage on A Street in Point Reyes Station, they had spent nearly two years moving from one temporary home to the next with their toddler son, Lanzo.
They had left their previous house because of mold, which they believed contributed to seizures their son was experiencing. So when they found the three-bedroom home on a quiet cul-de-sac, overlooking the wetlands and Inverness Ridge, it felt like a godsend.
Eight years later, the house has become something closer to a permanent foothold. This month, their landlord, Christa Burgoyne, donated the home to the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin, or CLAM, a nonprofit that rents and sells homes below market rate while keeping them permanently affordable.
The trust says Ms. Levinger and Mr. Regalbuto, who are in their 40s and own Wild West Ferments and run the West Marin Culture Shop, will be able to stay in the house, with the possibility of buying it later through CLAM’s resale-restricted ownership model. “The sale to CLAM guarantees our longevity in this place,” Mr. Regalbuto said. “Not only do we have long-term affordable housing, but we also have a shot at even being owners.”
Ms. Burgoyne, 87, bought the house, now valued at $1.125 million, about 15 years ago with the intention of renting it affordably. She had considered selling the house directly to her tenants at a below-market price but worried that, someday, it would return to the open market. By giving it to CLAM, she could prevent it from becoming another vacation home or investment.
She hopes her gift will become a model for others. “I want the whole world to know I’m doing this because I’m hoping to encourage other older people who have no heirs, or are wealthy enough, to give away their property,” she said. (Her son, she added, was not thrilled that she gave away the more-than-million-dollar asset but ultimately accepted it.)
Much of West Marin’s housing is held by older residents, many of whom bought when prices were still within reach. According to census data, about 60 percent of people living in owner-occupied homes in West Marin are 50 or older, and nearly 37 percent are 65 or older.
“In the next 20 years, we’re potentially going to see this huge turnover of real estate,” Mr. Regalbuto said. “And if it all just goes to the highest bidder and becomes vacation rentals and weekend places, it will be a hollowing out of the community.”
The median cost of a home in Marin is about $1.84 million, more than twice the statewide median. Nationally, the median age of first-time home buyers has reached an all-time high of 40, up from 30 in 2008.
For working families in West Marin, Mr. Regalbuto said, the pressure can be unrelenting. “Being a working-class person in this area feels so impossible,” he said. “So many of the people we’re close to in this community face this daily struggle—from housing to health care to food. It’s incredible that so many find ways to stay.”
Although CLAM generally sets a minimum income requirement to ensure that rent is no more than about a third of a household’s gross income, Tom McCafferty, CLAM’s director of properties, said the organization would not force out existing low-income tenants because they failed to meet that threshold.
The A Street house could become the nonprofit’s fourth homeownership opportunity. Under that model, CLAM retains ownership of the land and sells the building on it. The homeowner is responsible for maintenance, insurance and taxes and pays a nominal monthly ground lease fee to CLAM. When homeowners are ready to move on, they must sell the house back to the trust at a restricted price, while earning limited equity through a resale formula.
The land trust has grown rapidly over the last year, more than tripling the number of residents it serves, from 42 to nearly 150, Mr. McCafferty said. It is also looking more seriously at how older homeowners might transfer property into the trust.
In about five instances, he said, homeowners have written CLAM into their wills. In others, they have offered the nonprofit the right of first refusal. Some have pursued bargain sales, selling their homes to CLAM below market value and receiving a tax benefit for the difference between the appraised value and the sale price.
Still, Ms. Levinger said CLAM’s model, while invaluable, cannot be the only answer.
“I think it’s really important for people to consider working with their renters to create affordable home ownership opportunities,” she said. “There needs to be more avenues for getting houses to people who live here, work here, build community here and cannot afford market houses. The land trust model won’t work for everyone.”